A REVIVAL...With Gino Matteo...

...And SO much more!

More accurate in saying,

 'Twas a Revival AND A Reunion!
We'll get back to that

There's this drummer - Clayton Cameron. 

I was told that I HAVE to go see him, in that he's

a great drummer, and he brings people in. Not just

people coming to see some great jazz, mind you, but

he'll have top notch players with him. I just started to

describe Clayton's background, dropping names

like Clark Terry, Joe Pass, Sammy Davis Jr.,

Frank Sinatra and whatnot, but then deleted

it, feeling you'd be better served if you just

clicked HERE to get to his

website and bio.

Gino is like this, in a sense.

Gino is a phenomenal guitarist with a tastefull ear.

And a real feel for what he plays.

Every time I see Gino play - I get blown away!

I was introduced to Gino through another musician

who ALSO tends to blow me away when I see

him play - Quinton Hufferd.

Q, to most.

I really couldn't say now
just how many times I've gone to
see Gino play. But many OF those times
he'll have a special guest or two. Gino grew up
in East LA, and while hovering only around the age
of 30, he's been playing and touring for some 15 years.
He knows some people. He'll bring 'em on stage. Gino
will treat you with the music of someone else,
when he could easily be staying
 at the forefront.

NO help needed to provide
soulful, moving entertainment, but he stays humble.

He had some
fan-tas-tic talent on stage this night.
This was at The Hip Kitty - in Claremont, California.
May 10th, 2013.

The band to open this night
 was The Firethornes. This is the band
that Jade Bennett (now Matteo) played with
some 2 years ago. It was a NICE reunion, and just 
as when you see her now'days...

She POURS it out!
Some covers... some originals...
With everything stellar! Especially,
I think, this night.

The Firethornes played a nice long set,
then Gino took the mic, and announced they'd
be back shortly, with several SPECIAL guests. Gino 
came back in a bit with his oldest friend and 
regular drummer, Trevor Monks. 

Always good to see Trevor,
and this night - well, as soon as it hit Midnight - we were toasting his birthday...

...in addition to a great night
that had us all pumped
full of energy.

James Breker has been
playing bass with Gino for a
couple of years now, and is a wonderful addition.
James and Trevor provide more than the driving beat,
though they truly are responsible FOR this. Listen a
little bit closer. There're some complex rhythms
going on. More than you'd expect.

On keys,
Drake Munkihaid Shining. Real name? 
Don't know (doubt it), but with Drake, there IS a
sense of humor along with great support
and the occasional leads. 

Jade came up for 
a buncha backing vocals, 
and Joey Delgado was also there this night.
BUT - while he was introduced as a special guest,
he didn't just pop up for a few tunes. This night he was
more like a second guitarist with the band.

But Joey?
The Delgado Brothers
are an East LA band with some thirty-five 
years of playing. Between Los Lobos, Tierra, or
the Delgado Brothers, if you're from East LA... some
of these guys PROBABLY played at your first wedding.
(I'm sorry, but that joke does not get old - and I 
heard it FROM (one of) Los Lobos). 

What can I say?
Joey's another guitarist who
just blows me away EVERY time!
Soul, funk, SIZZLING and HEARTFELT runs
along the fret board, while quietly fading into the
background when others take the lead. I was there one 
night in Riverside when Joey sat in for a few numbers. 
At one point as he was playing,  if you caught a glance 
at Gino, he was there with his elbow propped on the 
neck of his guitar in awe of what he was seeing and 
hearing. Jason Ricci, on harp that night - same 
thing. His arms were at his side, barely able 
to take in the feeling that was flying from 
those notes and bends and
GAWD knows what else!

THIS
is what you get
when you're fortunate enough
to see Joey play. And in this case, it went
on through most of the night. But again with Joey,
what you get onstage or off, is another
humble, friendly man. 

So - 
just as Joey served 
as mentor and influence to Gino,
the next guest brought up served as 
such to Joey - Danny Diaz. 

Danny served as example 
to Joey some 40 years ago. And is quite 
possibly the man responsible for Joey's sound today. 

Well, in part anyway. 
I don't know this, mind you. 
But there's something there. Not a copying 
of notes or favorite riffs or anything like that. 
More... feeling that exists when the notes are hit. 
Feeling that seems apparent when you get that 
combination of seeing AND hearing. 

Especially when you get to see all three; 

Gino, Joey, and Danny - together 
on one stage.

And Danny... he's just SO 
expressive when he plays. 

There's a face 
that goes with the hitting of certain notes...

...and the bending of others. 

One thing is certain - both Gino 
and Joey were CLEARLY having just as much 
fun as the folk in the audience. 

They even stopped playing 
to take photos and video of Danny 
while HE played. 

 

Sorry, but that's just 
pretty damn cool.

Okay. 
One more feature of the evening. 
One more generation to include. Chase Walker. 
At the time of this performance, Chase is a mere fourteen
 years old. He's done (and is doing) quite well as a performer. He was even at one of the last gigs I was raving about - 
The 2nd Annual High Desert Music Festival and 
Barbecue Showdown. He was on just a couple of 
acts before the groups I was helping 
to MC around.

Chase is another player 
who FEELS what he's playing. 
He's got some riffs, that's for sure, 
but the improvisation is flowing as well. 
And it's not like he's relying on the same solo 
or two that he picked up from Gino. Gino? Yeah. 
Chase was one of Gino's students for a time, and 
continues to shine. 

I think we all look forward 
to seeing him grow as a player, but really, 
there's so much there right now. Just LOOK at 
that smile on a proud teacher's face.

So - 
Danny influenced Joey, 
who influenced Gino, who taught Chase. 
We got to see, quite literally (in a figurative kind of way) FOUR generations set-ting-that-stage-on-fire! A fire 
kindled by passion. And exuding of feeling.

  

So - once again -
I find myself drawn to doing a writeup...

...on something that's already happened. So you can't
really be moved to go see what I just described.

But you
CAN be so inspired to
go see Gino ANY time he plays 

at ANY venue. Same thing with Jade.
Any time you catch notice of her playing,
make some time on your calendar! And chances are,
where Gino's playing, Jade will be backing, and
where Jade is laying out passion
in full-voice, Gino...

...Will probably

be right behind her as well.

Thank you all!

Oh, and Mike, is this last photo one of yours? 
I think so.

Eyes of the World: Jade Bennett, Gino Matteo, and a Ripcat Records Night!

This title,

I suppose, is my way of

not naming EVERYBODY in the title

without sounding TOO exclusive. Too many people

to try to fit in...and too little space to NOT be

exclusive in some way. 

Oh.

And up front.

I didn't take any photos that night,

so everything here is the result of me trolling around.

I'll give credit where I know what's what,

and will add credit if someone id's

a photo as their work.

 

davidfleming28@gmail.com.

Saturday. March 3rd, 2012.

So here's Jade,

who got the night going,

as Gino hit the chords that made

me absolutely sure, under NO uncertain terms,

that we were about to start the night with Jade Bennett

singing Hunter/Garcia's Eyes of the World! 

One of my ALL time fav's!

 

(the above photo, I THINK I took. Me, or this guy Adrian, who was using my camera at that moment. This was on the same night that I spent some time drawing on Jade's arm.

The Vault. Redlands. I DID take the below photo)

 

Well,

Eyes of the World is not at all what

they started with, but I swear the chords were right.

Or at least the first chord and a kind of

da-da-da da-da

da-da

da.

And now I really wanna

hear a Jaded (as it were) version of that song.

But anyway.

 

It was a fantastic night

to be at the Mission Tobacco Lounge

in Riverside...a fit night to be representing

Ripcat Records.

  

(from a gig a couple of weeks prior to this writing - left to right: Joey Delgado, Trevor Monks, Jade Bennett, Tony Nouhan, Gino Matteo, James Breker)

The first set

began with an introduction

of Jade Bennett as the newest recording

artist to be signed to Ripcat Records, joining

Gino, Joey Delgado, and more.

 

Joey...one of the Delgado Brothers...

an East LA staple over the last 30 years.

Between The Delgados, Los Lobos, Tierra,

or over the last 15-ish years, Gino too - if you grew up ANYWHERE around East LA...

...SOME of these folk probably

played at your first wedding.

 

(I've gone on to repeat this joke with nearly the same reference. Didn't realize this. Good thing I write this stuff down)

 

Joey was in the audience at at this point,

later to join on stage. Since he wasn't on just yet,

then it was also at this point that I was sitting with a

bunch of Jade's family, silently projecting, "Hey Joey.

Learn Eyes of the World. Learrrrrrn Eyessssss of the Worrrrrrrld. You are getting SLEEEEeeeepy.

EYESSSsssss of the Worrrrrrrld".

 

He probably already knows it. But hey!

 

 

                                                  (photo by Mike Ingram, circa 11/11)

Backing Jade this evening

was the same line up as when

you go to see Gino Matteo play.

Gino on guitar, Trevor Monks on drums,

James Breker on bass, and Tony Nouhan

on keyboards, and the occasional vocals. The

name of the first tune escapes me at the moment.

It was an original - to be recorded on an

upcoming cd. She followed with

Shakin' All Over, If You Call,

and SO much more.

During the first few tunes alone,

between Jade's vocals and Gino's guitar,

I found myself lost in the middle of my own notes

while getting caught up with what

was going on onstage.

In the past,

I've described Jade's

singing as a kind of sultry, smokey-bar blues. If you had to stick her in a genre? Maybe blues...more of a Soul and RnB thing, really. But it's RnB the way it USED to be presented. Not...whatever it is now. If you wanna get a picture in

your head of what she sounds like...think Adelle.

Or maybe Janis Joplin.

But I really hate to

jump to such obvious choices.

She'll sing softly...then she belts it out.

You'll hear her bending the notes - like a

guitarist would. In only the last few months,

this is something I've seen mature SO incredibly.

When she covers someone else, she completely owns

the tune she's singing. Most of the nights I've seen Jade,

she's covered Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. This is

a good example. I didn't even KNOW it was a cover,

but then again my only exposure to THAT tune was

with Winehouse, a drunken idiot, stumbling all over

the stage in Belgrade...leaving most of the

words out, and making the

rest - well, painful.

What, too soon?

 

Jade stepped down for the next set,

as we saw Joey Delgado introduced as the

Godfather of East LA blues guitar. Also joining

at this point, the INCREDIBLE Jason Ricci on harmonica

(and some vocals). They started with material to be found

on Gino's new album...out REAL soon! And Gino, by

the way, will be on Jason's new album. I believe this'n

will also be out on Ripcat Records.

This was a great night for this band.

Gino was in the pocket. He was doing what

I love so much - going into solos hitting short

SHORT notes - OH so quietly, then following with

a major shred! Joey shone - not showing off what he

could BE doing, but rather humbly sliding in as a fifth

member, rounding out the sound. James wasn't just

hitting the bass notes. He was running up and down

the fretboard with a cool, funky drive.  Made you

wanna look up to see who's doin' it. "NOT that

quiet quy standing in the back", you'd think to

yourself. Sho' 'nuff though.

 

Trevor - I don't know

how else to say it - he was locked in!

But he always is. Look at his eyes sometime

when he's playing and  You'll see what I mean.

(photo by Mike Ingam)

Tony Nouhan provided

great work on the keys, while popping

in for some occasional vocal work as well.

Ricci's harmonica sounded at times like a third guitar.

And the way he changes tones and delivery...I made a

note to compare it to some Steve Vai kinda thing.

 

No kidding.

Some other highlights for the evening? 

At one point, Gino went cordless to go outside

and serenade Jade. On his way there, and back,

he'd stop and play for various tables, maybe

borrowing a lighter to serve as

an impromptu slide.

 During My Grandmother Told Me

(another original - out on Gino's upcoming cd)

Joey had a solo that was just so incredibly intense...and moving...have you ever seen a guitarist prop his elbow

onto his fret board, and cup his chin in his hand,

watching another guitarist on the same stage?

 

That was Gino, blown away, watching Joey go.

Jason also. Normally his hands are near the mike - gettin' ready to blow us away on the harp. During Joey's

solo...Jason's hands were at his side. He was just

staring. Along with Gino, just watching in awe.

We all were. Thank you Joey. Gino followed

with a particular ride on the sustain, more

shredding, a whinney or two...

My God!

They played one of

my favorites - Soulshine. Dan Davis,

of Lunchline Jones, stepped in for a few moments

here for some wonderfully soulful vocals, Gino blew

us away with his soloing, and Tony Nouhan finished it

up with, again, some great great vocal work. He shone

again with Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

Again - I have to point out Jason Ricci. This was an

incredible treat to have him back in the music

world, and with us in Riverside that night.

Before the night was over,

almost as a bookend, Jade took a break

from wondering what kind of notes I was taking

to join on stage once again. Nice thing was...it was

a song ABOUT her. 

 

Other nice thing. It's just fun.

Clearly!

 

Just SO glad I was there.